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Arm your iPhone with A!arm and snooze longer using your voice

TNW Quick Hit

A!arm ($.99) is an iPhone and iPod Touch alarm clock one can turn off with the sound of one’s voice.

Hits: Easy-to-use app, with a minimal, yet pleasing, interface. A!arm also adds social features, an awake confirmation feature and the “Sheep Count Game” for those unable to sleep.

Misses: If one uses another app to aid them with sleep, for instance a sleep machine app, it is a little difficult to shout over the app to get A!arm to stop. Adding a noise-based sleep aid which shuts off when the alarm goes off would be a super addition.

Overall: 4.5/5

The Details:

I have trouble sleeping and consequently have trouble waking up on-time and without feeling like I’ve been on a 3 day bender.

A!arm, from Michael Diguet and Martijn Verpaalen, is an iPhone and iPod Touch app which aims to help you sleep, wake at a desired time, ensure you’re awake when the alarm goes off, and if you so choose, sleep a bit longer with a voice-controlled snooze/stop feature.

The entire process begins by setting A!arm’s alarm.

One can set multiple alarms, view and edit alarms in a list, days when alarms repeat, and elect a 12 or 24 hour clock. Setup is a breeze and the user interface is pleasing to say the least.

In addition to the alarm options, one can adjust snooze times, pick from 3 different microphone sensitivity settings, activate a “Wake Up Test,” and share via Twitter and Facebook that you’re up and ready for another awesome? day.

One more super feature of A!arm is “The Sheep-Count-Game.”

“The goal of the game is simple, count as many sheep as possible by hitting the sheep button. Sheep, but also cows, pigs, trees and other graphics will fly by on the wheels. If you hit the button when there is a sheep the game goes on and you win a point. If you miss it or if you hit something that might look like a sheep but isn’t one, you lose.”

Will the game help you sleep? Possibly. Is it tremendously fun? Definitely.

The only thing the app needs is an ambient noise component. As stated, I’m one with trouble sleeping. Consequently I use a sleep machine app on my iPhone and it runs non-stop until I shut it off. When A!arm goes off and I shout at it, my neighbors hear me, but A!arm and my sleep machine apps don’t like one another, causing alarm and noise confusion. Adding an ambient noise feature would solve all of my problems, which in the end is all I care about (slightly kidding).

A!arm is a wonderful iPhone/iPod Touch alarm option that’s well-designed, feature-rich and inexpensive. Before you head to bed this evening pick up the app here, and set your alarm using A!arm.